The whole point is the compensation is not based on how hard you work but the value you provide and what the market will support. Of course upper management works roughly the same hours as everyone else, but they also have far more responsibility.
This is relative. In my experience, many people in upper management have held little to no real responsibility because they were the types that if all goes right, it's their doing, but if anything goes wrong, it's the fault of someone below them. I find this more true for middle managers, but I have seen this with upper management numerous times.
Again in my experience, the higher in rank one achieves, the less real work they end up doing when compared to their subordinates. Delegating isn't that hard to do and takes very little time -- and there are some master class delegators out there.
That all being said, I do respect and love working for upper management who understand, who care, and who do as much as the rest of us. I currently work for such individuals and it's part of the reason I've stayed as long as I have.
10x programmers don't make 10x the pay. They might make slightly more, but not even 2x what a 1x programmer (of the same level, no comparing seniors to juniors) makes at the same company.
I don't know what L9s or 10s are paid; it's probably highly variable and the total number are probably a handful.
if the engineer is doing their job correctly, they are negotiating to be paid more than tne 1x
Why is that a good idea? Isn't there a risk that s/he will then quit?
there is a disconnect about how companies mildly or jot so mildly “gaslight” employees into burning all of their energy on the job.
Its more cultural than profit-seeking. The profit seeker would want to maximise the effectiveness of the worker, by for example thinking hard about what work is worth doing.
The biggest waste i see is cancelled projects that could have easily been pre-cancelled. The next is features that are hardly used. Followed by technical debt and its impact on velocity.
Minimize risk and time spent in efficient markets with millions of participants (the developer talent pool, the stock market). These places are treadmills.
Instead, spend your free time in inefficient markets by starting a business with the rest of the time you’ve now freed up.
Most B2C and B2B markets don’t have millions of competitors, and hence are much less efficient than the developer talent pool and stock market (which do).
This is the optimal strategy.